Will Ross here, welcome to The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life. On this show we discuss tips and tricks for the game Second Life, created by Linden Labs.

Today’s Episode: Decluttering: Five Tips for Inventory Management.

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Today on the show we’re going to give you five quick tips for organizing your inventory. 

Proper inventory management will make your Second Life a lot easier because you’ll spend less time searching for your inventory, leaving you a lot more time to actually p;lay the game. But before we start, here’s a neat little trick. If you need to find every object you have on, just search for the word “worn.”  It will show you every item you’re currently wearing. And now, on to the tips.

Building Debris.  Search for and check anything named "Object."  Most of these will turn out to be single prim boxes from unfinished building projects and can be safely thrown away. After a few months in Second Life everyone ends up accumulating a couple of these. I had a hundred and twenty seven.

Empty Folders/Empty Boxes.  Look inside all of your folders. Most stores will give you a folder with a landmark and a notecard when you buy an item even if the item comes in a box. Move the landmarks to your “Landmarks” folder if you want them, and then get rid of those folders. Do the same thing with empty shopping bags and item boxes for items you've already unpacked.

Landmarks and Notecards. Go through your landmarks and notecards and eliminate all doubles. Get rid of instructions for items you no longer have and landmarks for shops you don't have any interest in going back to. This is one of the most fun parts of inventory cleaning because it's like a little look into your Second Life history. You're bound to have accumulated notecards from past drama, landmarks from clubs that are no longer open, and a few notecards with bits of information you can't even remember why you needed. I keep all of this stuff, because I've made a few mistakes that I like to remind myself of.  Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.

Snapshots and Textures. This is another walk down memory lane part of inventory management. Look at your old snapshots and textures. Delete any of them that you don't need anymore, and then name every texture and snapshot. This is a major pain in the tush parts, but it makes it much easier to find what you're looking for in the future. Then make it a habit to name photos after you shoot them.

Search and Destroy.  Last, it's time for the worst part of inventory management: sorting. Figure out the system you're going to use to organize and then set up folders for it. Open a second inventory window and then go through your folders one by one, dragging items where they belong. Delete copies of items that you don't need.  If you don't want an item and it's no transfer, delete it. If you can transfer it, consider having a yard sale to sell some of your old items. Or just do what I do, the next time you see someone who looks like a newbie, toss them some of your older items. Trust me--it helps with the second life karma, making it less likely that you'll be reincarnated as a camping chair. 

Finally, start using good inventory management in your every day Second Life. It takes a little longer when you're shopping, but having an organized inventory saves you time in the long run not having to use the search functions to find your loot.

That’s it for this episode!  Stop by the website and check out my Twitter Page, if you want to see what I’m up to on any given day! Send your feedback or question to secondlife@quickanddirtytips.com, and the comment line is 206-888-6975, that’s 206-888-mysl.  The Traveling Avatar’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a Better Second Life is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips network, so be sure to check us out on the web at QuickAndDirtyTips.com.

So until next time, remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Especially if they cut that cure with baking soda. Then it's worth… like… twice as much.

Woodstock SL

We're throwing a huge party on August 16 and 17 in honor of my RezDay. We're calling it Second Life Woodstock. We'll have three live acts per hour spread across three sims for a total of 12 live performers. For information, join the Second Life group Woodstock Second Life, or go to www.slwoodstock.com for details.